Manual of physical exercises : comprising gymnastics, rowing, skating, fencing, cricket, calisthenics, sailing, swimming, sparring, base ball : together with rules for training and sanitary suggestions / by William Wood.

  • Wood, William, of New York.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of physical exercises : comprising gymnastics, rowing, skating, fencing, cricket, calisthenics, sailing, swimming, sparring, base ball : together with rules for training and sanitary suggestions / by William Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    My chief design in writing this work is to promote a *love for physical culture. Is not such culture needed? Look at the great number of our young men and women, and see what a narrow-chested, sallow-complexioned, slight-formed race they are. But, thank God, this will soon pass away. Institutions for Physical Education are springing up in all parts of our country. Our great men of learning, presidents of nearly if not quite every col- lege or university in the land, have lent their aid to pro- mote the good work. Our students hereafter will gradu- ate not only with clear heads but with sound bodies. Far be it from me to advise less attention to be paid to the mind. But it is certain that an unhealthy body will sooner or later affect the mind. Moreover, no man lives for himself alone. The present generation are fathers and mothers of generations to come. By the fixed laws of nature, the present gives impress to the future, as the past has given form to the present. The children of healthy parents will, as a rule, be healthy. The children of infirm parents, as a rule, will be infirm. Every one should therefore feel that the strength and character of future generations depend upon the more frequent use of Gymnastic and Out-door Exercises. Ath- letic culture is intended to restore the just proportion of the two principal parts of human Education—Mental and Physical. It is the bounden duty of every person to take care of the Body, and develop it as well as the